Ments



2 4 Sheets-Sheet l.

(NdMoaeL) J. HENDERSON. Y Y PROCESS OP PURIPYING IRON BY MEANS 0F PLUORIDBS'AND OONDENSING THB GASEOUS PRODUGTS THERBFROM.

No. 279,947. NN Patenteduun@ ze, 188s.

S gg' l l h WITNESSBS a Nv PETERS. Hua-magnum wnhmm. D. C.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

J. HENDERSON.

PROCESS OP PURIEYING IRON B Y MEANS OE FLUORIDES AND GONDENSING THE GASEOUS PEODIIGIS THEREEROM.

No. 279,947. Patented June 26, 1883.

AINVENTQR WITNESSES:

N. PETERS. Pham Limagraphar. washington. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES HENDERSON, OF YORK, fN. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEMASSIGN- i MENTS, TO CHARLES G. FRANCKLYN, OF SAME PLACE.

PROCESS 0F PURIFYING IRON BY MEANS 0F FLUORIDES AND CONDENSING THE GASEOUS PRODUCTS THEREFROM. i.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 279,947, dated June 26, 1883.

Application filed Mny 5, 1881.

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES HENDERSON, of the city of New York, N. Y., have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Processes for Purifying Iron by Means of Fluorides and Gondensing the Gaseous Products therefrom, of which the following is a full and.

clear description and specication.

The object of this invention is to make iron and steel more economically, using fluoride of calcium as a reagent and condensing the products of the reaction and collecting them.

The accompanying drawings represent an apparatus by means of which my improvement may be carried out.

Figure 1 is a vertical section (longitudinal) of a gas-producer, reverberatory furnace, boiler, and condensers. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectionuat x a of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section at z z'of Fig. l.

The gas-producer A has a contracted space opposite the tuyeres, so as to concentrate the gases and produce anfintense heat, that the slag may be melted. The fuel'is charged through the hoppers, having the covers a a. and doors b b, and the air for the production of gas from the fuel is supplied by the tuyeres fj'. From the gas-producer A the gas passes by the iiue G into a heating-chamber, C, or reverberatory furnace, on the hearth of which the reagents and iron to be treated are placed. .Beyond the chamber O is a second heating-chamber, E,`

having a connecting-flue, G', through 'which the gases pass from the chamber C. At the fiues G and G a supply of air `is fed to the gases to cause them to burn in the chambers. A partial combustion takes place in the first chamber, which is completed in the second. The air is supplied by pipes from blowers or air-forcing cylinders in fixed proportions to that supplied to the gas-producer A, so that the combustion of the gas may be regulated with accuracy. From the second heatingchamber the gases pass to the chamber M, through the connecting-flue D', in which chamber M is the boiler K, in which boiler steam is generated for driving the engines for the blowers. From the boiler-chamber the gases pass by the iiue DL at the lower end of a con- (No model.)

densing-cylinder and through the connectingpassage and out through the escape-fine I into the atmosphere. Through the rose-nozzl es g/ y,

one at the top of each condensing-cylinder, is

supplied a continuous spray of water to act upon the gases as they pass through for the purpose of condensing the iiuoride of silicon.

The operation of the furnaces and condensersis as follows: The reagents used are fluorides and oxides, preferably fluor-spar and oxide of iron 5 but any other iiuorides and oxides, or oxidizing' agents in which the oxide will act upon the base of the iiuoride in contact with molten iron to decompose the fluoride, will answer. They are ground to a fine powder, and are mixed in suitable proportions and charged upon the hearth of the reverberatory furnace C, and cast-iron, which has been previously melted in another place, (preferably in the chamber E,) is poured upon them, whereupon, during the succeeding fifteen minutes, or thereabout, chemical action fakes place between the' silicon in the iron and the iiuorine of the fiuoride, and fiuoride of silicon is formed. There phosphorus is present, it forms with the iluorine a fluoride of phosphorus, which passes off1 with the waste products ofthe operation. The fluorides and oxides may be charged into the chamber E, and cast-iron from'a cupola or blast-furnace mayv be poured upon them, when the same reactions as above described will take place. After the silicon and phosphorus are removed by the chemical reactions, the purified iron may be tapped out through the tap-hole c and poured into the chamber C, and may then be decarbonized to steel or wrought-ironv by the action of ore and scrap-iron, as in the openhearth process, after which the metal may be tapped out through the-t ap -hole c. gases pass under the steam-boiler K, in order that as large a portion as possible of the temperature may be absorbed before they reach the condensers L L', where they are condensed by the water spr( yed upon them from the noz- The spent being in a ne spray, comes in contact with the gases and takes up the fluorides, making the liquid acid. As hydroiiuoric acid is also formed, which volatilizes at 60O Fahrenheit, the water should be cooled below this temperature in order to take it up.

The tanks V VQ which receive the acids above named, should by preference be lined with lead to resist the action of the hydrofluoric acid.

Either air or water may be forced to circulate in the space q between the inner and outer walls of the condenser, but there is no contact between the water in this space and the gases inside the condenser.

The waste gaseous products of combustion pass away to the chimney through the flue I. rlhe condensers should be arranged in pairs, as shown, and should be of convenient heightsay from fifty to seventy feet-and of larger sectional a'rea than the chimney. The gas-passages should be from two hundred to two hundred and eighty feet in length, depending upon the temperature oftlre gases, their volume, and

the temperature of the water used in the conv denser. The condensed products are removed from the tanks V V through the openings P Shown in dotted lines.

The drawings show two heating-chambers;

but the condensers may be used with one only,

or with other than reverberatory furnaces, wherein the fluoride is used as a reagent.

l am aware that condensers of Various forms have been heretofore described for condensing gases, and that they have been heretofore used in the manufacture of fiuosilicic acid as a single product for condensing fluoride of silicon derived from silica and f1uor-spar charged with the fuel into a furnace.

I do not claim .the single process of condensing the fluorides of silicon; nor do I wish to be understood as limiting myself to the particular form of condenser shown in the drawings, nor its application to the particular form of furnace shown. Y

Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The process of reiining iron and steel by the action of fluorides and recovering the condensable gaseous products thereof', consisting in subjecting the impure molten metal to the combined action of a fiuoride and an oxidizing agent and condensing the gaseous products by mingling them with water, substantially as specified and set forth.

JAMES HENDERSON.

Vitiiesses:

inns. N. Gniivns, \V. L. BENNEM. 

